Avahan is an initiative sponsored by the Bill \& Melinda Gates Foundation to reduce the spread of HIV in India. It began in As of 2009 the Gates Foundation had pledged US$338 million to the programme. The programme aims to reduce HIV transmission and the prevalence of STIs in vulnerable high-risk populations, notably female sex workers and transgender people, through prevention education and services such as condom promotion, STI management, behaviour change communication, community mobilisation, and advocacy.